Susan Whitten praises Henderson-Vance Youth Services during her keynote address at the division’s 20th anniversary party Wednesday. County Manager Jerry Ayscue listens.
The Henderson-Vance Recreation Department’s Division of Youth Services celebrated its 20th anniversary Wednesday night at the Aycock Recreation Complex. Leon Robinson, the division’s director for its entire history, set the tone for the banquet in his welcome.
Leon Robinson has led the Division of Youth Services since it was formed in 1985.
“We wouldn’t be here without the support of the community,” Robinson said. Throughout the evening that theme was touched on as many members of the community were recognized for their work with at-risk youths.
Henderson-Vance Youth Services provides a range of programs to such youths to help ensure that they don’t grow up to be criminals.
More than three dozen people focus on what Recreation Director Alan Gill has to say Wednesday night.
The keynote speaker was Susan Whitten, a Vance County native and the North Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s director of community programs. She praised Henderson-Vance Youth Services for its commitment to at-risk youths and observed that it has grown over time to meet the existing and emerging needs of the community.
“Vance County exemplifies what we need in North Carolina,” Whitten said.
The Governor’s Crime Commission recently showed its belief in the local Division of Youth Services by granting it nearly $59,000 to spend on programs the next two years.
Robinson summed up the organization and the evening in his preface to distributing recognition certificates: “People need help; that’s what we’re here for.”
To donate money or time to the Division of Youth Services, call Robinson at 431-6099.
— Written by Brad Beece